Google Announces Chrome Browser for iOS, Coming to iPhone Today

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Google Announces Chrome Browser for iOS, Coming to iPhone Today

Updated 1:10 PM PST with a statement from Google.

The Chrome browser won't be limited to Android devices and desktop computers anymore. At its annual I/O conference Thursday, Google announced that Chrome is headed to iOS, and will be available on the iPhone later today, in fact.

The Chrome app will provide much of what you would expect from the browser, such as its incognito mode for browsing without leaving a digital trail in your history or cookie buckets. The mobile browser will also offer synchronization across devices, so you can keep bookmarks, settings, and open tabs synced among your desktop and iOS products.

Both Safari and Chrome are based on the open source WebKit browser engine. But for the mobile app, Google was required to use Apple's version of Webkit (UIWebView) as the Javascript engine and for rendering in order to comply with Apple's terms. Chrome also doesn't get to use Mobile Safari's Nitro Javascript engine, so Chrome may end up running noticeably slower than Apple's built-in browser.

A Google representative told Wired: "Our goal was to bring the same fast, secure and stable web browsing experience you’ve come to enjoy when using Chrome on your desktop or Android device, while also adapting to platform specific technical specifications. Rendering and the javascript engine are provided by iOS through UIWebView."